I am from the Philly area and went to college at Pitt. I’ve done driving, Megabus, Greyhound, Amtrak, and Southwest!

I’d say the train is probably more relaxing, more room in your seat and a nicer view, since you’re not on the turnpike the whole time. However, the train takes a lot longer (I think about 8 hours vs. 6 hours on a bus) and i believe only runs once a day. If you’re traveling just for the weekend, I’d take Megabus. If you have time to spare and a flexible schedule, I’d do the train.

Amtrak is 100% the way to go IMO. I have heard entirely too many nightmare stories about Megabus. I’d much rather spend the extra $40 and longer trip over, you know, crashing into an overpass, being on a bus that catches fire, being stuck with a driver who gets lost not once, not twice, but three times in one trip, and a driver who continued over 10 miles on a blown tire, despite a bus load of customers telling him the back of the bus was tilted and they could hear the metal on the road.

@SarahTee: Oh dear Lord…..I’ve heard the overpass thing but not the others!

I’m kinda miffed now– went to book the train and it said my session expired (not 5 minutes after posting the orignial post when talking with a coworker). So I had to rebuild the cart and now its another $20! I emailed them but nothing, yet….

@SarahTee: Well so much for calling customer service. Amtrak’s facebook posts seem to be pretty on par about customer service- nonexistent. Guess I’ll be sticking with the bus. DH won’t be ok with $60 and Amtrak could care less about bumping the fare back down or offering a promocode to a first time rider. Guess I’ll stick with the bus and airlines…

Definitely Amtrak! I wish I never had to fly even I love the train it’s so nice. I don’t like the bus, too stressful. Have you signed up for Amtrak rewards? You get free tickets after x amount of trips!

Amtrak seems to have a lot more delays and mechanical problems than the bus does, so I’d go on the bus. No point in spending extra money on the theory that it will be more relaxing just to end up on a broken-down train.

I’ve had nightmare stories with Amtrack (it took us 12 hours to do what we could have done by car in 6, not including the 8 hour delay it took for the train to get there)

I liked taking the train (and might do it more if I lived on the east coast where they are slightly more reliable than the midwest) But I normally am more focused on getting to my destination than the travel experience. If getting there in a reasonable time is the prioity, mega bus. If the experience getting to there is important, train.

@Misswhowedding: HAHA yes I did book it. The departure is around 7 am and I can spare time getting to my destination since I’ll be about 3 hours early to begin with. The return is at 12ish so hopefully it isn’t delayed (much). It’d still get me in around 8 pm and I can spare a little time then. In all honesty, I would really like the freedom to move and go pee hahahah

I’m biased because my stepdad works for Amtrak and I have ridden trains extensively. Since I get car/bus sick I would choose the train every time. It’s comfier, you can plug in your laptop in certain cars, and depending on the stretch and time of year, I can usually get a row of seats to myself.

I adore trains. ADORE. I’ve been across the country four times on Amtrak — once on the Southwest Chief, three times on the Empire Builder. I’ve done overnights on the Crescent eight times, the City of New Orleans four times and Coast Starlight once. I’ve also ridden on some more local trains in the Northeast: Empire Service, Vermonter, Ethan Allen Express, Keystone, Silver Service. I’ve been delayed a few times — sometimes extremely delayed — but the workers on the train are always extremely kind and professional. Whenever my husband and I travel on the train, we get a roomette, and when I rode with my parents and sister, we had the bedroom suite, but I’ve been in coach for shorter trips and when with friends or alone. It’s very comfortable and I love being able to get up and walk around whenever I want.

My husband and I are leaving for our honeymoon in 24 days and one of the biggest things I’m looking forward to is our overnight train trip from Oslo to Bodo because fuck yeah trains.